A tour of the Old Town Hall, Prague

My next stop was the Old Town Hall. I paid a little extra to ascend the tower in the lift rather than climb the stairs. It was well worth it! The views of the city from the top of the tower are stunning!

I then joined a guided tour. I was blown away when the first thing we saw was the Astronomical Clock from the inside! Seeing the 12 apostles up close and personal was amazing! As was the chapel. These were both damaged in World War II. 

The destruction happened during the Prague Uprising of 5–9 May 1945, in the final days of Nazi occupation, just as the war in Europe was coming to an end. The building was attacked and set on fire. German forces shelled the Old Town Hall, which had become a centre of Czech resistance. 

The Astronomical Clock was badly damaged. Its mechanism survived sufficiently to be repaired, but the wooden figures of the Twelve Apostles were destroyed. New figures were carved by Czech sculptor Vojtěch Sucharda and installed in 1948. 

The Gothic chapel was severely damaged. The chapel and its beautiful projecting bay window suffered extensive destruction and were subsequently reconstructed. The stained-glass windows we see today were installed in 1986–1987, designed by Martin Jiřička. They feature modern abstract patterns rather than reproducing the medieval designs, but they are somehow in keeping. They certainly made me gasp when I first saw them.

Entire wings of the Town Hall were lost. The eastern and northern sections were destroyed, along with valuable historical archives and collections. The eastern wing was never rebuilt, which explains the unusual open space beside the Town Hall today.

Our tour continued through the state rooms of the Old Town Hall, including an impressive ceremonial hall and the magnificent Brožík Hall, named after the Czech painter Václav Brožík, whose enormous paintings depict important moments in Bohemian history. There was also a much simpler assembly room, remodelled in the 1930s, which provided an interesting contrast to the older, grander interiors.Read more